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“You’re too young to remember,” John said. “When he was twenty, he made the mistake of telling Mama that he didn’t plan on getting married until he was thirty because he was having too much fun being single and didn’t want the burden of a family.”
Eric tried to imagine anyone in his family making this kind of announcement to his parents; he couldn’t. He and his brothers and sisters might think such things, but why say them out loud and risk an argument? “What happened?” he asked.
“Mama said that was fine. That no one should be burdened by a family,” Bart said.
“Then she and Abuelita were like generals on the attack.” John took up the story again. “Soon Gilberto couldn’t turn around without being confronted by some eligible young woman. They attended every family dinner. They sat next to him at church. Mama persuaded Papa to hire a new secretary at the shop, the daughter of a friend. If Gilberto tried to get away, to play soccer with his friends or to have a drink at a tavern, Mama would show up with some young woman in tow.”
“He was miserable,” Bart said. “He finally had to admit he’d have no peace until he got engaged.”
“So Maria was one of the young women sent to him by Mama and Grandmother?” Eric asked.
“No. I guess they hadn’t heard of her yet.” Bart laughed. “She was new in town and when Gilberto realized this, he decided she had to be the one. Then at least he could say he’d chosen her of his own free will.”
“After that, the rest of us knew we didn’t stand a chance,” John said. “We made our own choices and it’s worked out for the best.”
“It’s only because you’re the baby and her favorite that Mama and Grandmother have held off so long,” Bart said. “But if you don’t show some signs of settling down soon, they’re going to make their move.”
“When the time comes, I’ll make my own choice, too,” Eric said. “But I have to finish medical school first. It’s going to take everything I have to get through that. I won’t have the time or energy for a relationship.”
“So you’re still set on being a doctor,” John said.
“Why would you think I’d changed my mind? It’s what I’ve wanted for years.”
“I wanted to be an astronaut once, too,” Bart said. “But you don’t see me walking on the moon.”
“Mama’s even more upset about the idea of you going away to medical school than she is about you still being single,” John said. “She wants you here at home, out of debt and settled down, raising more grandchildren.”
John nodded. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she and Abuelita’s New Year’s resolutions don’t involve finding you a wife.”
Eric opened his mouth to deny this. The whole idea was preposterous, especially in this day and age. No one could force a woman on him.
Except his grandmother’s words when he’d introduced Alina to her still echoed in his head. Words he hadn’t dared translate for Alina: “She’s a very pretty girl, but when are you going to bring home someone you can be serious about?”
IF YOU WANTED to really get to know a man, Alina decided, there were worse ways than spending time with his sisters. While Alina and Marissa stuffed themselves with brisket and beans, chorizo and chilliquillas, Eric’s sisters Sofia and Cari, along with his sisters-in-law Renee and Sabina, regaled them with stories of Eric’s exploits—from the time he ate a batch of cookies their mother had made and tried to blame it on the family cat, to harrowing accidents on his motorcycle, to the time he’d dressed in drag for a school play.
Alina was still laughing at the mental image of Eric in a wig and falsies when he joined them, Marty trailing behind.
“What have you two been up to?” Marissa asked, scooting over to make room for them. “We were beginning to feel abandoned.”
“I knew it was a mistake to leave you alone too long.” Eric squeezed in between them. “My sisters have probably been telling all kinds of lies about me.”
“Only the truth,” Sofia said, grinning. “They both know they’d be wise to stay far away from you.”
“That isn’t fair,” Eric said. “There’s no one here to tell stories on Marty.”
“There’s nothing to tell,” Marty said. “Compared to Eric, I’ve led a very unexciting life.”
“Alina has had more adventures than any of us,” Marissa said. “I’ve never even been out of Colorado, and she came all the way from Croatia to live here.”
“What made you decide to come to the United States?” Cari asked.
“It was a great opportunity to see new places, meet new people and learn some new skills.” As much as she loved her country and her family and all their traditions, she’d begun to feel smothered by them. She’d wanted the chance to live truly independently—to make decisions based not on what had always been done but on what she wanted.
“And you’re here for a whole year?” Sofia asked.
“Until mid-January, yes.”
Marissa shook her head. “I’d miss my family and friends too much to leave for that long,” she said. “I mean, my three sisters drove me crazy when we were growing up, but the toughest thing about going off to college was getting used to not having them around anymore.”
“I was very homesick at first,” Alina admitted. “And I do miss my family. But I think being away from them has made me appreciate them more.”
“Maybe I should get away from my family for a while,” Eric said. “So I could try that appreciation thing.”
Sofia stuck her tongue out at him. “You’d be lost without us, little brother.”
Alina turned to Marty. “What about your family?” she asked. “Where do they live?”
“They’re in Denver,” he said. “I have an older sister, who’s married and lives in Connecticut.” He shrugged. “Not much else to tell.”
But surely there was, Alina thought. What were their names? What did they do for a living? Did he miss them? Did he want to move back to Denver to be near his parents when he’d finished his studies? But she didn’t want to fire all these questions at him at once, afraid to appear she was interrogating him.
“I’m glad you decided to come to the United States,” Eric said. “If you hadn’t, we wouldn’t have gotten the chance to get to know you.” The words were innocent enough, but the unspoken message behind them was that he wanted to know her much better.
Unnerved by how much that idea pleased her, she excused herself and carried her empty plate and utensils to the trash barrels set up by the back gate. Marissa followed her. “Don’t leave me,” Marissa whispered. “I have to hide from Eric’s mom.”
“His mom? Why?”
Marissa glanced around, then, apparently deciding they were out of earshot of anyone else, said, “She wants to fix me up with her son.”
“With one of Eric’s brothers?” Hadn’t he told her all his siblings were married?
“No, with Eric!”
“Eric?” She had a hard time getting the word out, so stunned was she by this idea.
“Yes. Can you believe it?”
Alina swallowed, and forced a lightness she didn’t feel into her voice. “I thought you liked him. You said he was cute.”
“Yes, but I’d never poach on a friend’s guy.” Marissa shook her head. “That’s just wrong.”
The news flooded Alina with relief, though she fought against it. “I do like Eric,” she said. “But we only just met. He’s not exactly my guy.”
Marissa gave her a pitying look. “He’s really into you. Don’t pretend you haven’t noticed.”
Yes, she’d noticed. She’d have to be in a coma not to. And she was definitely interested in him. He was kind and funny and good-looking and sexy…but was he the right man for her? She was a modern, independent woman—but deep down she wanted to believe her grandmother’s prophecy, that there was one particular man pre-ordained to make her happy. “What do you think of Marty?” she asked.
Marissa shrugged. “He’s okay. But he’s kind of…dull.”
Marty didn’t have Eric’s charisma, that was true. “He seems very sweet,” Alina said.
“Yeah, but I like a little more spice with my sweet, if you know what I mean.”
Eric was plenty spicy. Alina turned to watch him as he pretended to wrestle with one of his young nephews. The longer she was around him, the more she felt her resistance to him weakening. The two of them could have a lot of fun together. But she was leaving in three months. What would happen then?
Chapter Three
The problem with inviting Alina to the barbecue, Eric decided, was that he hadn’t found any opportunity to be alone with her. After his conversation with his brothers, he’d been acutely aware of everyone watching whenever he so much as looked at Alina.
“So I have to find a way to ask her out without it really being a date,” he explained to Marty as the two cruised around town in an ambulance the following Monday. They’d taken the vehicle in for an oil change and were now driving the long way back to the station.
“Why not just ask her out on a date?” Marty asked.
“Because if I do that, word will get back to my mother and grandmother, and they’ll decide to take matters into their own hands.”
“What are you talking about?” Marty asked.
“My mother and grandmother have decided it’s time I was married,” he said.
“Why now?” Marty asked.
“I’m the only one of my siblings who isn’t married. Also, I suspect my mom thinks if I’m married I’ll settle down and give up the idea of going away to medical school.”
“I thought every mother wanted her son to be a doctor.”
“Believe me, when I’m a doctor she’ll be proud as can be. But she thinks I’m too ambitious, that I’m going to get in over my head, incur a mountain of debt, kill myself studying and working, become estranged from my family…If there’s a worst-case scenario, my mother has imagined it.”
“So she wants you to marry and settle down here in Gunnison. I get that. Then they ought to be happy if you start dating someone, shouldn’t they?”
“Only if it’s the right someone.”
“And Alina isn’t the right someone?”
“Alina is from another country—and plans to return there in a few months.” The knowledge made his stomach hurt.
“Ah. And your folks want you to settle down with a cute little Latina.”
“Exactly. So you see my problem.”
Marty shook his head. “Not really. Going out with a woman doesn’t mean you’re going to marry her. And you’re twenty-six years old. What’s your mother going to do—send you to bed without your supper?”
“Very funny. You don’t know my mother. And my grandmother is twice as bad. When I was ten and decided I didn’t like green beans, she served them to me every night for six months. It was easier to give in and choke them down than face six more months of seeing them on my plate every time I sat down to dinner.”
“There’s a big difference between a vegetable and the woman you’ll spend the rest of your life with,” Marty said.
“My mother and grandmother can be relentless when they’re trying to make a point,” Eric said. “If I start dating Alina, they’ll set me up with other women they think are more suitable. Every time I turn around one will just ‘happen’ to be there. Alina will think I’m some kind of playboy.”
“I guess Alina wouldn’t like that,” Marty said.
“Especially not when we hardly know each other,” Eric said. “The only chance I have is if the two of us can become friends before my family has a chance to interfere.”
“Then whatever your family does, she’ll be so besotted it won’t matter?” Marty said.
Or maybe he’d be so enamored he’d find a way to stand up to his folks. “I just want us to be able to have a good time before she has to go back to Croatia, that’s all,” he said. Though he hated to admit it, there was some truth in what his brothers had said—part of his interest in Alina probably lay in the fact that any relationship with her was destined to be temporary.
But since she was leaving soon, he couldn’t afford to waste any time he might spend with her now.
A loud tone from the radio alerted them to a call. “Elderly woman needs assistance at Lifeway Manor, two-one-one-two West Virginia Avenue.”
Eric and Marty exchanged a look. “The bowling ladies,” Marty said.
“Yeah, the bowling ladies,” Eric said grimly, and switched on the siren and flashing lights.
“Copy, dispatch. We’re on our way,” Marty said.
Lifeway Manor was an assisted-living facility not far from downtown. The elderly residents were mostly independent, living in separate apartments with access to a central dining facility, an on-site medical clinic and a host of planned activities.
The newest addition to the activity schedule, and the cause of great excitement among the residents, was a series of baseball games, golf tournaments and other games which the residents could “play” thanks to the latest video game technology. With these games, even wheelchair-bound residents could take to the links or to the basketball court. This had led to the formation of teams and a healthy competition among the residents.
But no group was more rabid or competitive than the women’s bowling league. The nineteen women who competed in the bowling tournaments battled with such intensity that several of them were familiar faces to members of the Gunnison Valley Emergency Medical Services crews.
First had been Carla Polenski, who had thrown out her shoulder while bowling a virtual strike. Then Betty Peabody had gotten stuck in the elevator when she pressed all the buttons at once in her haste not to be late to a scheduled game. Pearl Winters had fainted when her blood pressure spiked during an argument over scoring.
Tonight’s casualty was one June Freed, a pleasant-faced munchkin of a woman who had fallen in her rush to reach the game room ahead of her archrival Opal Simpson. “She always gets there first and camps out in my favorite chair,” June griped as Eric examined her swollen arm. “I’m sick and tired of it, I tell you.”
“It looks like your arm might be broken,” Eric said. “You’ll need to have an X ray to know for sure. Do you want us to take you to the hospital in the ambulance?”
“No. I already called my son. He’ll take me. But not before the tournament is over.”
“Why don’t you just take the game away from them?” Eric asked the harried administrator as he completed the required paperwork at the nurse’s station.
“Oh, I couldn’t do that.” The administrator’s eyes widened. “They’d revolt. When the golf game malfunctioned for two weeks, some of the men staged a sit-in in the main dining room. They threatened to call the newspapers if we didn’t have the game repaired immediately. One of them even said he’d have his grandson film a protest for YouTube.”
“Maybe you should take Alina bowling,” Marty said as he and Eric headed back toward the station. “It’s obviously a more exciting game than I imagined.”
Eric gave him a sour look.
“So what are you going to do about her?” Marty persisted.
“We need to do something with friends that still provides the opportunity for the two of us to be alone.” Eric glanced at his friend. “What do you think of Marissa?”
Marty blinked. “I don’t know. She seems nice enough. Why?”
“You should ask her to come with us. That will help Alina feel more at ease.” He flipped on his blinker for the turn into the station.
“Us? Since when am I involved in this?”
“Since now.” Eric backed the ambulance into its bay, ready for the next call-out.
